Hawkbit
by Broken Biscuit
Summary: Our universes have been running side by side since the beginning of time: ours and the rabbits. But now, they've crossed paths. Frith and God are at war for the territory, and we're finding out that these rabbits are angels. Our guardian angels.
1. And So It Begins

There was a soft knocking at the door of my bedroom, which I figured could've only been Catherine, this conclusion being drawn based off of that fact that mom would've rammed her fist against the wood until I bothered to acknowledge her existence, and grandma would've walked right in. This was more of a gentle tapping that was barely audible beneath my blaring iPod.

"What do you want, Cathy?" I demanded, throwing a distasteful glance at the door as it slowly opened. Cathy poked in her head and looked at me with wide, calf brown eyes that were full of fear and wisdom all at once.

"Nat?" she whispered, closing the door as she entered and coming to sit beside me as fast as her skinny 9-year-old legs could carry her. A few tears streamed down her face, and I realized that something was up.

"Hey… what's wrong…?" I asked just as she attached herself onto my shoulder. Through my worry, though, I had to sigh in annoyance as I remembered how long it took to get her off of me the last time she acted up like this.

"Natalie, there's something in our house," she said. "I heard it talking."

I rolled my eyes, finally getting what this was about. "Cathy, really, it's just one of those bad dreams of yours, or maybe even this cruddy air conditioning system we had. Something rational like that."

I don't mean to be harsh, I just can't stand it when Cathy acts like this; when she's scared and weak. I have to be brave whenever she starts it up, every time, when the truth is that I'm never brave. I'm just as scared as she is.

"It's not! I swear, I heard voices and footsteps. I felt something in the house. I'm scared, Nat."

"There's no reason to be," I said calmly, picking her up and balancing her on my hip as I stood shakily. Of course, I did feel a nagging bit of fear in the back of my head, but I'd rather die than let that on. "Come on, you'd better get back to your packing." Yeah, changing the subject. One of my specialties.

Cathy kept her eyes on the floor as I brought her down the hallway and into her room, plopping her down on her bed and next to her half full suitcase.

"I don't want to leave," she said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, knitting my brows. "If anything, you should be glad to get out of here. Dad's got a nicer place… a nicer job…"

"I'm not leaving," she declared.

I gave an exasperated breath. "So that's what this is about. You're not hearing noises! You're just projecting you're fear and anger onto something else so that you don't have to face the facts. Don't be pathetic, Cathy, you're better than that."

Cathy stood up and stomped her foot. "I am not! I _did_ hear them!"

I just shook my head and turned to leave. "Stop scaring yourself, Cathy. Just… just stop." Repeating myself when I had nothing better to say; _another_ one of my great talents.

Cathy was crying. "Why are you so mean and cold? It's like you've given up all hope on the world. _You_ used to be better than _this_."

_Please don't say what I think you're about to say._

"Shut up," I ordered.

"Ever since Abby died—"

I was fast in running back up to her and slapping her across the face. "I said shut up!"

_She said it_.

She turned away and started crying into her pillow as I looked at her in anger. As ashamed as I am to admit it, this wasn't the first time I'd acted like this. Whenever anyone mentioned Abigail, I'd become unhinged. But, with my own sister, it made it all the more of an assault.

I know, I know, it was wrong anyway. I've never hit her before, not once, but she'd set it up for herself. Half the time she's only trying to help me, and I just throw it back into her face. I'm horrible. I'm appallingly awful.

"I'll be glad once you're going to live it dad's!" I shouted down to her, wrinkling my nose in disgust. "The only bad thing is that I'll have to see you're ugly face when you come here on weekends. I hate you!"

_No! Why did I say that?_

I turned and threw open the door, anger boiling up inside me, and burst past mom, who had come to see what all of the ruckus was. Cathy cries grew loud as my awful words struck at her core.

_I'm sorry, Cathy. I'm so sorry._

Being in my room didn't make it any better. Our thin, walls didn't much help to block out the screams, and I don't mean Cathy's. I had my head buried in a pillow, half hoping it would suffocate me as I shrieked like a three-year-old. I hated this, all of it. My stupid life, my stupid family, stupid Abby for doing this to me… and that truck! That horrible hit-and-run truck that ruined my life… that took my best friend away from me. Damn it! Damn it all to Hell!

In the other room, I can hear mom quietly talking to my sister, slowing the cries as she offers to read a bedtime story. "In the great green room," I hear her begin, "there was a telephone, and a red balloon…"

I pulled the covers over my head, thinking to myself that I can't be so vicious to Cathy. She's small and needy, and if I treat her like this now, I don't know how she'll have the will to go on in the future.

_I am so sorry._

***

It was a short while later that I awoke in the dead of night to screaming coming from the other room. Without even pausing to think, I jumped to my feet, knowing that the only one who could possibly have a reason to scream at 2:30 in the morning would be Cathy. My anger that I felt towards her was long gone, and now replaced once more by a sisterly caring and love.

I bolted out of my room and into my hallway, trying to fumble my way down the short corridor and into Cathy's room. The only thing that went wrong was that I tripped over something in the hallway, and, as soon as I came into contact with it, it began to move.

_Weird_, I thought to myself, blinking in the darkness, and for a moment I considered going to look around to see whatever animal that was in me house, but I kept Cathy in my focus, who, by now, had stopped screaming and probably just started trembling and crying.

As soon as I threw the door open, there was a soft padding of paws and claws against the hardwood floor, and something dashed past my feet.

Okay, now this was making me nervous. These things were big; like, small dog sized. I hoped to God that they weren't rats. Vermin of that size would be freakin' terrifying.

My hand goes toward the wall, and I flick on the lights before shutting the door and going towards my sister. "What's happened?" I asked as she looked up at me in fear, tears trickling down her soft, milk chocolate colored face. "What's wrong?" I demand when she doesn't answer. I guess I was mostly ticked that she'd taken time away from my sleep.

She grabbed onto my hand and held it so tight that it began to lose color. "There was something in my room…"

"Yes, I know, I think we've had an infestation or something. God, it didn't bite you, did it?" I was nervous, racking my brain of possible diseases that giant rats could carry. Weren't they the ones to blame for the Bubonic Plague, or whatever?

Cathy looked at me, not seeming to even hear my question as she searched the air around us for something solid to steady herself on. "There was… there was a voice, Nat. It was talking."

I blinked a few times, trying to take this in. "Don't be silly, Cathy. You were only dreaming again… You have to have been. Animals don't talk."

"Then it must not have been an animal," said Cathy, quivering as she spoke.

"That's crazy talk," I said, denying her the chance to get caught up once more in her psychopath ranting.

She shivered as though it were cold, and my face softened. "Alright," I said, pulling her into a hug and deciding just to humor her. It was just too early to get into an argument now. "Suppose that it was talking. What did it say?"

She looked up at me with shining eyes, this, apparently, not being the question she had been hoping I'd ask. "I… I'm not sure. I was nearly asleep when it first started muttering to itself." She trembled, hugging herself as little shivers shook her body as if she were a shimmering reflection on the surface of water.

Seeing that this was one of those sister moments where, once again, I had to be the brave one, I picked up my little sister and pulled her into my lap, thinking that maybe I could hug her until she was alright. But that wasn't what happened.

Cathy immediately stood up again, traces of fear still in her eyes that were becoming quickly overwhelmed by determination. "Nat…"

"What?" I asked impatiently. If she didn't want a hug and didn't want to be alone, then what more could I do for her?

Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Cathy looked down and blinked back tears. "Could we… could we go see what it was?"

I was taken back. I mean, ever since Cathy was little, she _never_ had a taste for adventure. A lot of the time, she was barely curious. I'd never expect her to be _willing_ to charge into something she didn't know.

"What?" I repeated, still trying to wring out my mind that seemed to collapse in on itself. "Why would you… why would we want to do that? If anything, we'll find it in the morning, unless the rodents know what's good for it and make an escape. Trust me, they're nothing but some animals that found a way in through the basement or something."

Cathy looked at me as if I were an idiot. "No, they're not. Please, couldn't we find them. I want to talk to them. They obviously came to us for some reason."

"You're head is full of dreams, Cathy," I said, flinching at the possibility that my dear sister may be going crazy. "I promise you, they're just dumb anim—"

Cathy wasn't even listening. She walked across the room and out her hand on the doorknob, probably about to peek out. I have to say; the little Pandora will end up getting us all killed with her curiosity one of these days. It's clearly one of her weaknesses.

I could've stopped her, using all of the skill that I picked up from football camp and any other restraints I could find, but I figured that maybe this would be for her best. I mean, really, if she's ever going to grow up, she's got to drop these fantasy worlds going on in her head, and obviously just _telling_ her did no good. Maybe if she saw for herself…

Still, I stood, not wanting her to get bit by a rat or anything. I wasn't too worried about that, though. We'd had animals in our house before; mice in the walls, squirrels in the attic, and cats in the crawlspace. We get along pretty easily, and try to get rid of animals as best we can, but, if this animal was as big as I perceived after tripping over it in the hall, it could impose a threat.

"Come on," I said, bending down for her to get on my back.

Together, the two of us made her way out, her trembling and cling to my shoulders, and me watching where I stepped.

As soon as my feet creaked against the floorboard, there was a scrabbling of claws try to run for cover, and they were obviously trying to keep as quiet as possible. There was a swishing of drapes as the beasts tried to take cover behind the sofa. Stupid, ignorant animals.

I dashed across the room to the far wall and snapped the lights on as quick as possible, not getting much comfort from the dark, and Cathy gasped.

Our furniture was ripped to shreds and soiled. The ugly drapes were torn and on the ground, and, I don't want to go into too much detail, but it was pretty disgusting.

Cathy started trembling again, and, when I looked back, her eyes were misty and faraway, and she was crying again. Her breathing became ragged, and, as I brought her forward, she began mumbling under her breath, and I went into a panicked spasm. Not because of what she was doing, though; she did this all the time. What scared me more was a voice. In my house. Behind the sofa. Saying exactly what she was.

_"As two worlds become one, a war begins,_

_Angels brought together to pay for their sins."_

She was crying—sobbing, really—into her hands right there in my arms. I was crying too. I was terrified now. Why were there voices in my house? Thee shouldn't be. That voice, that thing behind the couch, had no right to be there. And it didn't quit. It went right on moaning, not crying like we were, but in pain.

For a while the insanity continued, until, slowly, it died down. Cathy and I crouched on the hardware floor, hugging, listening to nothing but the breathing of ourselves, and the two things behind the couch.

Finally, the bravery side of me came into play. I knew that whatever fear and pain I was going through, it was going to Cathy sevenfold, and no good could come of her if she's going through that. I kissed her on top of the head to give her courage, and whispered, "I'm going to see what it was."

She looked at me worriedly, trembling as she loosened her grasp. I stood up slowly, making my way towards the couch. My footsteps were like mallets on the souls of all of us, and I reached the sofa all too quickly.

Then I held up three fingers to Cathy. Two. One.

Without a sound, I ripped back the curtains and looked over the edge of the trashed couch.

I couldn't believe what I saw.

It was insane.

It was not possible.

But it was _there_.

It. Two its. Two rabbits: a gray one and a brown one, sitting there behind the couch. They stared at me in terror, and the gray one bolted away, screaming back over his shoulder. "Fiver! Come on!"

I didn't follow it. I didn't even watch it go. I just sat there, stupefied as I turned what I had seen, these senseless creatures that defied all that I knew, over in my head, staring at the small blue-eyed buck that refused to move. Rabbits. Talking rabbits.

And ones that I knew, too.

Fiver.

And Hawkbit.

**XX  
Ha! Glad a finally got this done! Okay so here's pretty much what this story is: My own spinoff of the series, where the characters have been divided up with their equivalents. Of course, me loving Hawkbit more than anything, I made it so that the main character was Hawkbit's equivalent: That's right! One of those angsty teens, just like Hawkie! (Ahem)**

**Anyways, this is my new account. I made it to mainly focus on Watership stories, and one shots, and stuff that's not quite the stuff most people expect when they're on my other account (Journalist793). So, here it is, the first chapter of...**

**HAWKBIT ^_^**

**Ciao!**

**-Broken Biscuit, aka Amy XD**

**Please review! It's really a great feeling to know that someone has taken the time to tell me their thoughts on my story.**


	2. The Story Unfolds

A shower curtain was pulled back with a screeching sound of metal rings against the shower rod, momentarily clearing away lingering water droplets in the air and easing up on the pitch black eyes of Britney as she wrapped a dry towel twice round her skinny body. Even though it was late at night—probably even early morning—the girl was still totally energized since she'd just gotten back from a friends house…

As she turned to the mirror and began running her hands through dark brown locks of hair, the phone beside her cut cross the silence like a mighty claw. Although, upon spitting her gaze to the dimly lit screen, Britney simply found another acid rumor from Vivian about who's dating who and which groups of people from school had more of a favor towards those Proviso bitches. Just the mention of Proviso made Britney frown in anger; rage really, after everything that had happened.

_Don't waste your time even thinking about them_, she thought to herself, knowing well that frowning only causes wrinkles. Instead, she just pulled on an oversized concert T-shirt and sat in the room quietly, staring into the mirror.

After battling the idea of calling up Vivian to get more than just a 160-character message, Britney eventually flipped open the phone. "Britney," laughed Viv on the other side. "What's up, shexy-ass?"

"Hey, Viv," she whispered into the phone, cantering out the door and beginning to fire off question after question. The towel lay behind her, sopping on the floor, and, as the corner was turned for Britney, she failed to sense a dark mass stepping out onto it from behind the hamper, blinking it's single red eye as it thought long and hard.

Back in her room, Britney plopped down on her bed and continued to silently nod in approval with all being told to her.

"…Anyway, so after Jenny and I were done with that, she and I were sitting by the fountain when just who comes by but that asshole Kimmi, and she was talking to Eleni about how much she was gonna miss Rose now that she's leaving and I couldn't believe it! So I was like—"

"Stop," commanded Britney, almost out of breath from trying to keep up with all of this. "Rose is moving? After all she's done to us, she's moving before we can do anything back?"

"I know! It's terrible."

Britney scratched her chin as she thought, gritting her teeth and tensing. "Whatever," she forced. "We've got other things to worry about. Uh, have you heard about anyone else from Proviso lately?"

"No," answered Vivian, almost sounding disappointed. "They all seem to be pretty quiet after what happened to Abby."

A cruel smile came to Britney's lips, and she laughed a bit lowly. "Oh yeah, she ran out in front of a car or something, right?"

"Yeah, kinda, and no one even found out who it was that hit her." A sneering laugh followed along out of the receiver, and then a sarcastic moan of, "poor little bitchies."

"Stupid Abby, she and her little stories can all go burn in Hell."

"Amen."

There was a short buzz of silence as Britney crossed her legs and blinked, exhaustion setting in. "I'm going now," she muttered after a short while, and, before Vivian could give her some kiss-ass goodbye, the call had ended.

"Ugh!" muttered Britney as she fell into her pillow, pulling in close to herself. "Them stupid Provisos coming in on my territory. I would _love_ the show them a thing or two, and leave their bodies in the gutter when I'm through." The thought was a pleasing one that she figured might be a worthy text to someone who was probably sleeping, but when the skinny girl looked back to her phone, she froze up.

Because there—

Right there in the screen—

A reflection.

An eye. A single glowing red eye surrounded by a dark mass looking down from the shelf above her—

Back into the reflection—

Right back at her—

_Oh my fuckin—_

And then it spoke.

"It seems, then, that you and I have a common interest, Britney."

_It knows my name. Shit, shit, SHIT!_

"Don't look so afraid. I'm here to help you; together we can assume a power that no one could bring you down from."

Britney tried to say something, but only squeaked slightly.

There was just the slightest break in the monologue before it continued, the eye still not moving from the reflection; not looking away from her.

"You have been defeated in the past, correct?"

She nodded slowly, a wave of anger at the remembrance.

"As have I," it whispered now. "Together, we may exact our revenge, Britney. We _will _rule all, and then no one will be able to save our enemies. Will you join me?"

Britney gulped, so scared and confused that it seemed she die right there. But she didn't; something was telling her to say yes. This was her chance, she believed this creature's words.

"Who are you?" she whispered finally, and the creature smiled.

"You may call me Woundwort. _General_ Woundwort."

I could hardly breathe as I fell back into the cushions of the couch, my head spinning. "This… this is impossible," I whispered, covering my eyes and shaking my head.

Cathy screamed as Hawkbit ran past her and tried to barrel out the door, but found it to only be closed. Turning around frantically, he ran to the other wall, but there was no escape their either. All the while, Cathy was jumping up and down, tears rolling down her cheeks as she asked over and over again "What is it? What is it?"

And then I stopped moving. I sat totally still and looked at Hawkbit, still trapped, still cowering. All I could say was one word. "… Hawkbit."

I swear, that things pupils went down to even small slits than before as it looked back at me, confused and terrified. "What in the name of Frith is going on?"

And, just like that, Cathy was back in my arms, crying some more and pulling in herself until she sat in that egg position thing. "Nat?" she said quietly. "What's going on?"

I stood back up silently, with Cathy looking at me in surprise. Sure, I'm terrified inside, but I guess that I was keeping up the illusion of control pretty well.

"This can't be real," I finally said to her. "I mean…" my eyes were going all over the place as I said, "This has to be a dream."

"It's not," whispered Cathy, closing up her misty brown eyes and biting her thumbnail. "It's not, I swear."

I turned to her, and then went to look behind the couch, where Fiver was still sitting dumbstruck, his dark brown ears flat on either side of his head. And then I did something that none of us expected: I laughed.

"Cat," I said, shaking my head, tears in my eyes as my laughter sounded more and more forced; more and more _terrified_. "There are talking rabbits in my house from a show that got canceled ten years ago." And then my voice started to get shrill. "How could this possibly be real?"

And then I heard a voice that, so many times in the past, had made me calm, even though it was just on the TV. It was Fiver's voice.

"We've got no way out of here."

He sounded knowledgeable and sure of himself as he was saying this to Hawkbit, who backed up against the wall, still scared out of his wits.

That was when I broke down, too. I sat on the sofa and buried my head in my hands, my chest sinking as I shook my head. Where had reality gone, and when was it coming back?

Cathy stood up slowly and looked from Hawkbit to Fiver, who crept out from behind the couch. To him, she went and kneeled. "Are you… a rabbit?"

"Yes," it replied softly, and Cathy only stared at it dumbly.

"And you're a man," he said, seeing that Cathy ad nothing else to say.

Cathy nodded, although she seemed a little confused, as no one had ever labeled her a "man" before.

I turned over and looked at him accusingly. "Fiver," I said, not sure whether it was to the rabbit, or to Cathy, or just to myself. "Fiver, the mystic rabbit. Right?"

"Umm…" Obviously I was making him nervous. "I, uh…"

Cathy looked at me. "Nat, you're scaring him."

"Am I?" I asked, still angry. I grit my teeth. "That's good, he should be scared! None of this should be happening right now. I don't want this." Everyone stared at me as if I were some maniac, which is probably the case. However, no one responding made me even angrier.

"And you!" I suddenly shouted, turning to Hawkbit, and, I'm pretty sure that as I soon as I pointed to him, a little bit of him died inside. "What? Don't got nothing to say? Come on, Hawkbit, you're supposed to be the comic relief. Say something pessimistic and we can all move on!"

"I, err, umm…" All he could seem to do was blabber.

I stood up on the couch and sighed. "Lord, take me now."

"Stop it!" Cathy said, grabbing my hand and pulling me down from the couch. "Just stop it now, Nat. Can't you see they're scared enough as it is?"

"Oh, _they're_ scared. Do forgive me."

"_Nat_!"

I sat down on the couch and buried my head once again, choking on my tears.

Cathy looked back at Fiver, who was frightened by my blow up, and he looked down sadly. "I'm sorry," said Cathy to him, but he shook his head.

"You shouldn't have to be, this isn't anybody's fault."

Cathy still pulled in her knees and sat there thinking. "Still, I'm sorry if we've scared the two of you." She bit her lip and looked down. "So… so you're name is Fiver?"

"It is. And who are you? Cat?"

"That's just what Natalie calls me. Mostly others call me Cathy, on account'a that's my name."

_9-year-old introductions are so cute_, I thought through my bitterness.

Fiver nodded, relaxing only slightly. "And this over here is Hawkbit," said Fiver as he went to the silent rabbit sitting a little ways away. "He's hardly ever this quiet. And that is… Natalie? Or Nat?"

"She goes by both."

I sighed like this was exasperating and looked at them both. "Now that this pleasant little conversation is over, let's move on. Why the Hell are you two in my house."

Fiver and Cathy were looking at each other as I asked this, seeming to be sharing a thought.

"Two worlds…" began Cathy.

"…Become one," said Fiver.

_This is so weird._

Abby couldn't see anything as she walked through the blindingly bright light that only bounced off of everything around her and back into her eyes. She was still confused about everything that had happened; she still had trouble accepting the fact that she was dead.

"Hello?" she called, her voice sounding ghostly in the deserted place that she walked. It seemed to her that the ground beneath her feet was marshy, but everywhere she looked, all she saw was a bright white. "Is anyone here?"

"Who's there?" asked another voice, high pitched and squeaking in fright. Abby felt a new charge at this voice and began to run to where it came from.

"Hey! Where are you, I can't see any—"

And then she tripped and hit the floor, feeling it kind of shape itself around her like a cushion.

The other voice was very near to her now—almost right next to her—as it said, "Oh!" and backed up a little.

"Hey, wait, come back," said Abby, picking the golden blond curls from out of her face to find herself looking at a rabbit. "Oh… wow. Heaven is a strange place indeed. Was it you that I was talking to?"

The rabbit nodded, now looking at her in curiosity. "I didn't know there'd be men in Frith's afterlife."

Abby shrugged. "Yeah? Well, I didn't know there'd be talking rabbits. What are you doing here?"

Dandelion smiled, finding this conversation to be almost funny. "Something's been going on back in the other world. I was trying to look into this stream because I could see some of my friends in it."

"Stream? What str—" but once again, Addy cut herself off by looking over to see a clear stream that she had not seen before. In it was a scene playing, and, the closer the got, the more she recognized the people in there.

"Hold on a moment… That's Natalie!" Abby looked in closer, and, yes, indeed it was Natalie, sitting on the couch that Abby, herself, had sat on so many times before, with her head buried in her hands.

"I know; I just heard her being introduced to Hawkbit. I wonder why he's in a man home. That doesn't seem like something he'd do."

Abby grinned. "So it's not just me that's talking to rabbits, huh?"

"No," confirmed Dandelion. "I just said that something had happened down there."

Abby shook her head, and sat back up. "I'm Abby, by the way. And you're Dandelion, aren't you?"

Dandelion looked back up, surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Silly!" Abby said this, then flinched upon realizing she had just used the word "silly" in the exact same context that her mother word. Still, she shrugged it off. "We grew up together."

"What?"

"Yeah," replied Abby. Then she paused. "The only thing was that… you were on a TV show."

XXX

**Oh… please, I'm begging people not to take this fic seriously. I mean, I don't know what you people were thinking, but I was smiling through Abby and Dandelion's scene, I was trying to convey Heaven as a sort of Wonderland place where things don't have to make sense. The inside of my head is a strange place indeed. ^_^ Well, here's your second chapter of Hawkbit, written by a Hawkbit lover, for Hawkbit lovers, and then some. Please review! I'm very proud of this work! (not really) This is the account that I upload random bullcrap to because I'm afraid of it messing up the "Good Author" reputation on my other account. ("What reputation?" she asks.) Thanks!**

**~Broken Biscuit, aka Amy.**


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